Annual report 2017: Defending freedom of expression and information around the world

“None of us has the luxury of being indifferent anymore: we have seen that what happens in one part of the world has a direct impact on the lives, on the happiness of people in another parts of the world. We are deeply, deeply connected in so many ways” – Elif Shafak, award-winning novelist and campaigner, at the ARTICLE 19 30th Anniversary event.

2017 was a critical year for defending free expression. In a climate which often seems politically, economically, and environmentally unstable, and even unsafe, fear can reign, and expression is often the first right to be eroded.

With so much at stake, ARTICLE 19 has risen to the challenge in the second year of its Expression Agenda strategy: targeting the best means of protecting rights and freedoms on the ground, while calling on international mechanisms that protect freedom of expression and the right to information around the world.

Through our distinctive combination of monitoring, legal analysis and policies, trainings and partnerships we work to protect freedom of expression at international, regional and local levels. This report summarises the impact of our work in 2017.